A Hymn to the Spirits of the Forest
by BlackCat3
Summary: The story of Inuyasha's parents. Read and Review!


A Hymn to the Spirits of the Forest  
  
Disclaimer: You don't have to ask. I'm not that intelligent.  
  
Chapter 1 Prelude  
  
"Kagome! Kagome!" cried Shippou happily, "Tell a story! Tell a story!"  
  
Kagome smiled fondly and ruffled the little fox-youkai's hair. Ever since she had told him the story of Cinderella, he'd wanted to hear another one every night. His parents must've never heard of bedtime stories, she thought to herself. Come to think of it, she mused, no one in Feudal Japan knew of bedtime stories. Sango always leaned into the Kagome's tale listening intently. Miroku and Inuyasha, as much as they tried to seem bored, listened too. Miroku would sit and act like he was busy, eating, meditating, anything to look like he wasn't paying attention. But at the dramatic parts he would pause, or open an eye until the climax was over and he would go back to what he was doing. Inuyasha would simply rest against a tree or rock, hands cushioning his head, eyes closed. He could past for sleeping, save for the movement of his ears, which perked forward in Kagome's direction.  
  
"Ah, well, I believe I'm fresh out of stories tonight, Shippou," Shippou, Sango, and Miroku looked slightly down-trodded at this, and Inuyasha's ears twitched noticeably from the opposite side of the campfire, "Um, Sango, do you know any stories?"  
  
"Nope, none." The ninja girl replied, stroking Kirara absentmindedly.  
  
"Miroku?"  
  
The priest cleared his throat importantly, preparing to tell whatever strange tale he had.  
  
"Once upon a time, a strong, handsome man was looking for a beautiful woman to be his bride and-" SWACK! Sensing Miroku's perverted-ness, Sango had whacked Miroku hard on the head with her boomerang.  
  
"Hey!" he yelped, holding his throbbing skull, "what was that for?"  
  
"I knew that was coming!" Sango cried angrily, narrowing her eyes and pointing at him accusingly. Miroku shrank back in fear.  
  
"Okay." stuttered Kagome nervously at Sango's outburst. "Inuyasha?" she said, quickly turning to the half youkai.  
  
"Any stories I would know would be full of gore and cause little children nightmares." He smirked, looking at Shippou tauntingly. Shippou squeaked in fright and pulled back into Kagome's arms.  
  
"Inuyasha!" Kagome scolded. Inuyasha simply grinned a mischievous grin, showing his sharp canines.  
  
"If Inuyasha-sama allows it, I know of a story," Myouga said appearing on Sango's hand. Still slightly irritable, Sango slapped her hand and the little flea youkai fluttered to the ground.  
  
"Sango-chan, are you alright?" Kagome asked worriedly.  
  
"YES!" Sango snapped and Miroku cowered in fear. He figured he shouldn't sleep tonight, considering the fowl mood Sango was in. He didn't do anything that bad, did he?  
  
"What do you mean, I have to allow your story," Inuyasha asked skeptically.  
  
"Well," Myouga, quivered under Inuyasha's piercing stare, "I thought you'd like to hear the story of how Inuyasha's parents met."  
  
Everyone's jaw dropped in surprise. Even Sango forgot she was in a bad mood.  
  
"My parents.?" Inuyasha repeat almost questionably.  
  
Myouga pulled back fearfully, "I knew you wouldn't like that. It's such a touchy subject, I know. I'll just take it back and everything will go back to normal," he blubbered.  
  
Kagome looked at Inuyasha. He was spaced out, a serious look on his face. Probably wondering, she thought, he did say he couldn't remember his father and his mother died when he was little. This saddened her a little. There must be a deeper meaning to the two deaths.  
  
"Fine," Inuyasha said in a quieter tone than usual.  
  
"What?" Myouga asked, removing his arms from protecting his face. The rest of the group was speechless.  
  
"I said, fine!" the dog demon replied louder, "tell it!"  
  
There was a moment of silence, as everyone tried to figure out Inuyasha's change of heart. It wasn't everyday he shared personal thoughts or acted like he cared about family and friends.  
  
"A.alright," stammered Myouga recovering from shock.  
  
Along time ago, a giant bull youkai and his herd decided to claim a mountain and all of the land seen from the top of it. This made many very angry, as no one knew how much land you could see from the peak. Anyone who dared to cross the every changing border, youkai or human, were killed or forced to pay a high price in gold.  
  
It became very bloody as the youkai began their own form of a contest. Whoever could destroy the bull was given the mountain. But not many decided to take that offer up. Wouldn't they suffer the same fate as the bulls? Kicked off their land because others were jealous? But one tribe was going to attack the mountain head on. The youkai dog tribe. They attacked with full force, the battle lasting for almost three straight days, ending when, with the skull of the bull at his feet, the youkai dog lord raised his huge head to the sky and howled victory to the moon.  
  
The dog tribe ruled much differently than that of the bull's herd. Most youkai were left unharmed as long as they were only passing though, which kept angry grudges away.  
  
Years later, news from some travelers who noticed the soil was rich at the base of the mountain sent curious farmers to try and start rice plantation in this bit of forestry. The dog tribe only watched at first, hiding in the shadows, but upon discovering the humans' motives of permanently staying in their territory, they destroyed the campsites and farmers with it. Angered, as one of men who went with the farmers was of noble blood, the tomo of a near by land sent samurais and demon exterminators to rid the mountain of the now proclaimed bloodthirsty demons.  
  
When the first wave of youkai exterminators began to comb the land surrounding the mountain, the dog lord foresaw what taking an aggressive action would result in. If his dogs took care of the these warriors, more would take there place, and the men sent would become tougher and tougher. This decision, he had resolved, would cause the end to his tribes good fortune and, most likely, after they had killed all of those human, the end of all of the dogs in his tribe.  
  
In the end, the youkai simply watched in the shadows. Baffled by the lack of dangerous beasts, and lack of beasts all together, most of the warriors left. But there were a few who remained. One such was the tomo's forth son. He was a strong, well-educated young man, but never as strong or smart as his older brothers. Deciding that the only way for his parents to notice him was do some heroic, and so he began to climb the mountain instead of wait at the bottom.  
  
This act of courage, or foolishness, caught the dog lord off guard. So a few days later, when the tomo's son reached the very top of the mountain, he found the entire youkai dog tribe watching and waiting for him.  
  
After about a moon, the youkai lord and the tomo's fourth son had struck a deal. The tomo's son could build a village at the base the mountain, making himself tomo there. The villagers would not be aloud to climb the mountain, or kill a dog youkai, and once a year a large offering of meat would be left for the tribe.  
  
Finding that he had the upper hand, the man had realized he could gain most of the land the youkai owned and come home a hero. The people were skeptical, and only after the first few farms had been settled in and the soil was proved to be very abundant did many people come. And for a very long time no one ever saw a single dog youkai, even at the offering, where the meat would disappear overnight, only a bit of the blood stain was left on the ground.  
  
And so our story really begins years later.  
  
  
  
AN: I've been using the Japanese word for demon, 'youkai' a lot in this chapter. That's simply because I read the manga translations online and the translator says 'youkai'. I'm pretty sure the English graphic novels have been saying demon. If it really annoys you, drop a line.  
  
Thanks to GandS for betaing!  
  
Read and Review! 


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